Sofia's Story- The Half-Blood Prince

Sofia is in her third year at Hogwarts. She knows that she must tread carefully, for now more people know her secret. Also disturbing her is the fact that her best friend is shutting her out, leaving her feeling alone and helpless.

4. Chapter 4

Sofia walked into Dumbledore's office and sat down in one of the chairs in front of his dark.

"Hello Miss Adema. How was your first day of classes?"

Sofia shrugged.

"Alright I guess."

"Professor Snape says you did really well in his class this morning. He says you have mastered basic combat spells quite well. He says you are much farther ahead tan the rest if your class."

Sofia sat quietly, not knowing what to say.

"I also heard from Professor Slughorn about your incident today with Mr. James. I must ask that you refrain from being to first to draw your was when provoked. Of course, if someone threatens you then your are well within your rights to defend yourself."

Sofia nodded.

"I understand."

Dumbledore smiled.

"Good. Now, as for why I have brought you here, I believe that you need to learn Occlumency and Legillimency. You need to be able to shelter your mind from Voldemort."

"Why do I need to learn Legillimency?"

"I want you to be able to protect yourself from your enemies. And the best way to protect yourself is to know what your enemy is thinking."

"I would not be so doubtful, Miss Adema. Remember, you are capable of much more than you could possibly imagine. Now, are you ready to begin?"

Sofia nodded slowly.

<->

Draco was beating himself up inside. It killed him to talk to Sofia the way he had today. It killed him to block her out like that. He didn't have a choice though. It was for the best.

His arm was burning. He would do anything to make the pain go away but he knew that nothing would take away the anguish he felt.

He could hear his fellow Slytherin's whispering about Sofia. News of her defeat of Davy had not sat well with them. There were talks about cornering her, attacking her.

There were always such talks among the Slytherins. They were always planning on who to torment. Normally Draco did not care. Often he was one one leading it. This time though, he resented it with every inch of his heart.

Not that he could tell his House mates that. They would never understand. No one would ever understand.

There was nothing left for Draco to do except head off to bed.

<->

The next afternoon, Sofia found Luke in the library after classes.

"Hey," she whispered as she approached him.

He looked up from the book he was reading and smiled.

"Hey. How are you?"

Sofia sat down next to him.

"I'm alright. Don't tell me you already have so much homework that you're already planning to have a bed placed in here."

Luke rolled his eyes.

"You have no idea," he said. "Every single one of my teachers spent half of class lecturing in how important this years is. I have at least three feet worth of essays to write and it's only the second day of classes."

Sofia was shocked.

"Already? That's insane!"

Luke grunted and looked back down at his book.

"Can I help you with any of it?" Sofia asked.

"Do you want to read over my transfiguration essay?"

"Sure," Sofia replied.

He handed her a half foot of parchment. She began to read it quickly.

Overall it was a good essay. There were a few errors here and there and a few thing he needed to add or take out, but it would be easy to rewrite. Sofia took out her quill and scribbled her corrections onto the parchment and then handed it back to him before he had finished reading the next two pages of his book.

"I don't get how you do it," Luke said.

Sofia shrugged.

"I've got to go take care of some things," she said standing up and kissing his cheek. "I'll see you later."

She left the library and began wandering through the corridors. She didn't really have anything he needed to do, she just had the sudden urge to be alone.

She found herself wandering down the third floor corridor. She had heard rumors that this corridor had been restricted a few years ago.

"Oy, Adema! What're you doing wandering around by yourself. Don't you know it isn't safe to wander alone these days."

Sofia turned around.

Theodore Nott was standing behind her with at least four other Slytherins.

"Yeah, something bad might happen to the little pure-blood princess."

Davy and another handful of Slytherin's came up on her other side. She was completely surrounded.

She tucked her hand into her robes and put a hand on her wand. She gripped it tightly but did not pull it out, remembering Dumbledore's warning.

"What's wrong, Davy? Can't face being beaten by a girl so you decide to bring along other friends for me to beat up too?"

Nott snorted.

"Come on, Adema, you don't really expect to fight all of us do you? Most of us are older and more experienced than you are. You wouldn't stand a chance."

Sofia stared at him calmly.

"If you're not here to fight, then whey are you here at all?"

Nott drew his wand and the other Slytherin's followed him. Sofia kept hers in her robes, her hand itching to pull it out.

"Aren't you going to defend yourself, Adema? Or are you all talk? Nott growled.

Sofia did not reply. She turned her body so that she could see both groups of Slytherins. She took a few slow deep breaths, waiting for one of them to make a move.

Nott came at her first. He sent a stunning curse at her face. She ducked easily and let it sail past her, forcing the Slytherins on the other side to jump out of the way. She drew her wand and stood up straight.

Spells began flying at her from both sides. She began dodging, and ducking them, waiting for a weakness.

One Slytherin girl sent a knock back jinx towards her and she deflected it back at the girl. The girl was knocked back against the wall with a loud crash. Sofia did not have a moment to waste though, as an evil looking curse she did not recognize whizzed past her ear. She spun around and sent a stunning curse at the first body she saw. Her curse met it's mark, just as she was hit with a knock-back jinx.

She hit the wall hard, knocking the wind out of her. She slid to the ground, trying to fight of the dizziness that was lapping at her mind. She rolled out of the way as she saw another curse flying towards her.

She rolled to her feet and sent another successful stunning curse. She was surprised to see that the Slytherins had been stupid enough to maintain their positions in organized lines on both sides of the corridor. She raised her wand toward Davy's side.

"Impedimenta!"

They were all thrown back against the wall. Sofia deflected a curse from Nott but was unable to redirect it towards him.

"Enough!"

Wands flew from their owners hands, except for Sofia's which she gripped tightly.

Professor McGonagall was storming up the hall, looking furious.

"What is the meaning of all of this?" She snapped.

"Mr. Nott, explain yourself!"

"It was nothing, Professor," he said sheepishly. "She started it."

He pointed at Sofia, but before Sofia could argue, McGonagall silenced him with a fierce look.

"One Gryffindor against seven Slytherins, most of them older. I hardly doubt any person in their right mind would start something at those odds. Now I shall take ten points from each of you Slytherins and you shall all receive a weeks worth of detentions. Now get back you your common rooms."

They Slytherins hurried away. The one girl who Sofia had slammed into the wall looked dizzy and almost toppled over as she hurried after her House mates. Once they were out of sight, McGonagall turned to Sofia.

"Miss Adema, would you please follow me."

Sofia followed her without a word. She was nervous, afraid the professor would find some reason to punish her.

McGonagall led Sofia down to her own office. She opened the door and ushered for Sofia to step inside. Sofia did so silently.

Draco was sitting inside McGonagall's office. He looked up as they entered. His face was worried at first, but upon seeing Sofia, his expression became blank.

"It was Mr. Malfoy, here who alerted me to Nott's plans. You can thank him for my arrival, though from the looks of it you were quite able to defend yourself."

Sofia turned to Draco.

"Thank you," she said.

He shrugged and stood up, walking out of McGonagall's office quickly, not looking back.

Sofia hurried after him.

"Draco wait!" She called.

He did not slow down. She had to run to catch up with him. She grabbed his arm and forced him to spin around.

"Draco, what's wrong?"

Draco forced a weak smile.

"Nothing, Sof. I'm just glad you're all right. I'll see you later."

He pulled his arm away from her quite forcefully, leaving Sofia standing alone in the corridor feeling helpless